Why Does it Matter Which Came First: Circumcision or Justification?

Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the
uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS." 10 How then was it credited? While he was
circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while
uncircumcised; 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal
of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised,
so that he might be the father of all who believe without being
circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, 12 and
the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the
circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our
father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

Why is Paul so riveted on the truth that God's righteousness is
credited to people by faith alone apart from works? We might be
tempted to say to Paul, we've got it! We got it in Romans 3:22. We
got it in 3:28. We got it from the story of Abraham in 4:1-5. We
got it from the illustration of David's psalm in 4:6-8. We got it!
Why do you keep pursuing this? Why do you go back to Abraham in
Romans 4:9-12 - today's text?

There are at least four answers to that question, two in what we
have seen so far and two in today's text.

"Faith Alone, Apart from Works" - Undercuts Boasting

First, Paul is riveted on this truth because it undercuts pride
and boasting. Look at Romans 3:27-28. "Where then is boasting? It
is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of
faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from
works of the Law."

It may seem strange in our self-saturated and self-exalting and
self-aggrandizing day that anyone would be attracted to something
because it destroys boasting rather than enabling boasting. Bumper
stickers are an in-your-face kind of boasting: "Pagan and proud of
it," "I smoke and I vote," "Get in touch with your inner grown-up
for a change." The quick, clever put-down, the sarcastic one-liner,
is the communication of choice. Public figures from politicians to
preachers posture with a kind of bravado and swagger: if they don't
know the answer to the question, they answer a question that wasn't
asked and try to keep up the impression that the king has clothes
on. Ours is a self-assertive age.

In this atmosphere where we all live, the story of Jesus about
the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) won't get quoted
on your average T-shirt. The Pharisee prayed and looked down at the
tax collector with disdain. But the tax-collector stood at a
distance, beat his chest with his fists and said, "God, be merciful
to me, the sinner!" To which Jesus responded, "I tell you, this man
went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who
exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be
exalted."

Paul is totally in tune with Jesus Christ when he says, in
effect: I am riveted on the truth of justification by faith apart
from works because it undermines my boasting and your boasting.
When having right standing with the most important Person in the
universe, namely, God, is based on child-like dependence on mercy,
rather than on will-power performances of good works, boasting is
excluded.

And that is important because in the end, this universe is all
about the greatness of God, not the greatness of man. We were put
here to enjoy making much of God; we were not put here to be made
much of by God or man. Creation is about God. He must increase; we
must decrease (John 3:30). "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord"
(1 Corinthians 1:31). The most basic way to make much of God is to
trust his free and undeserved mercy -like a little child trusts his
father. Our joy is not in self-exaltation but God-exaltation. There
is more lasting satisfaction looking up into the Himalayas than
looking up into the mirror.

We know we are on the right track here because a few verses
later in Romans 4:20-21, Paul shows that Abraham glorifies God by
trusting him: "With respect to the promise of God, he did not waver
in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and
being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to
perform." So the first reason Paul is riveted on the truth of
justification by faith alone apart from works is because getting
right with God by faith undermines boasting and glorifies God.

The second reason Paul is riveted on the truth that
righteousness is credited to us by faith alone apart from works is
that this preserves for us the great blessedness of forgiven sins
and imputed righteousness. That is what we saw last week from
Romans 4:6. "David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom
God credits righteousness apart from works." Paul wants to bless
you. He wants you to see that the gospel is good news, not hard
news or bad news. He is for you and not against you. He wants you
to rejoice and be glad. The point of taking away your boasting is
not to take away your joy. It's not to take away your blessing.
It's to preserve your blessing.

If getting right with God (being justified) were based on works,
or on faith plus works, then our blessing would be taken away. The
blessing of Romans 4:6, that God and his spokesman Paul want for
you, is a solid, unshakable basis for your acceptance with God,
namely, the righteousness of God in Christ, not your own
righteousness. And therefore Paul is jealous for us to get this
righteousness and this acceptance with God the only way it can be
gotten, namely, by faith apart from works.

So the second reason Paul is riveted on this truth of
justification by faith alone is to preserve the great blessing for
us of forgiven sins and imputed divine righteousness. Boasting is
excluded; being right with God is included.

Now we come to Romans 4:9-12 and find two more reasons why Paul
is so riveted on this truth that righteousness is credited to us by
faith alone apart from works. Let's get our bearings in this text
and see these two reasons.

"Is This Blessing on the Uncircumcised Also?"

After describing the blessing of justification and forgiveness
in verses 6-8, Paul asks in verse 9, "Is this blessing then on the
circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?" Why does he ask that?
For the Jewish people, circumcision was one basic act of obedience
that defined them as Jews. This was the mark that they had a
special covenant of acceptance with God. So Paul's question is: Did
they get right with God by getting circumcised? Did the work of
circumcision - this act of obedience - put them in a right
relationship with God?

So he asks, "Is this blessing [referred to in verses 6-8 -God's
imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins] on the
circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?" His answer has two
steps and a conclusion.

Step one in verse 9b: "We say, 'Faith was credited to Abraham as
righteousness.'" Step one says, "Let's take Abraham again as our
example here, the father of the all the Jewish people. His faith
was credited as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

Step two in verse 10: "How was his faith credited as
righteousness? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised?" Answer:
"Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." Genesis 15:6,
where Abraham is declared righteous by faith comes before Genesis
17 where the practice of circumcision is instituted.

Conclusion: The blessing of getting right with God and being
accepted by God did not come by means of circumcision. It came
before circumcision and independent of circumcision. It came by
faith, apart from works. That's what Paul wants to establish here
with the example of Abraham.

Now let's look at two implications of this which show two more
reasons why Paul is so riveted on this truth of justification by
faith apart form works.

"Faith Alone, Apart from Works" - Keeps Clear the Proper Place
of Works and Acts of Obedience

First he stays riveted here on Abraham's righteousness by faith
alone apart from the work of circumcision because he wants to show
the proper place and value of circumcision. So the third reason for
Paul's absorption with this truth of righteousness being credited
by faith alone is to make clear that works or acts of obedience
have their proper and essential place in the believer's life, but
not as the means of justification.

What is that proper place of works and obedience? Verse 11a: "He
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
the faith which he had while uncircumcised." Two words describe the
relationship between circumcision and the righteousness of God that
comes by faith: sign and seal.

This is the third reason Paul cares so much about this issue. He
wants us to put obedience and works in their proper place in
relation to faith and justification. Paul is not just interested in
throwing works and obedience out the window. In fact, he said in
Romans 1:5 that the aim of his whole ministry was the obedience of
faith: "We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake."

I take that to mean that true, God-exalting obedience comes from
faith. Any other kind of obedience is not true obedience at all. So
Paul is utterly committed to making clear that what's at stake in
all his talk about justification by faith alone, apart from works,
is
making sure that works find their proper place. And that place
is not as the basis of justification. But as the sign and seal of
the righteousness that comes by faith alone.

When your life begins to conform to the will of God, this is a
sign. It is a sign and seal that your faith is real and that you
have an unshakable righteousness, namely, the righteousness of God
in Christ. An act like circumcision, or any other act in obedience
to God, does not give you your right standing with God. Faith alone
does. But the acts of obedience are a sign and a seal that your
faith is real and that Christ is your perfect righteousness.

That's the third reason Paul is so riveted on this truth: his
aim is not to destroy works, but to put them on their proper
foundation, namely, the foundation of our complete forgiveness -
God's perfect imputed righteousness. "He breaks the power of
canceled sin" - as Charles Wesley wrote ("Oh, For a Thousand
Tongues to Sing!"). First he cancels the sin. Then he breaks the
power of the canceled sin. First justification. Then, on the basis
of that, sanctification. Paul wants to make this plain for us. He
wants us to enjoy this and glory in it. We do not have to break the
power of sin first and then hope that God will cancel it. This
would not only destroy justification, it would destroy any hope of
holiness in this life.

"Faith Alone, Apart from Works" - Opens the Way for All Peoples
to Be Children of Abraham

Finally, the fourth reason Paul is so riveted on the truth that
righteousness is credited to people by faith alone apart from works
is that it opens the way for Gentiles to be a part of the covenant
people who will one day inherit the world (verse 13) and who have
Abraham as their father. In short, justification by faith alone is
a missionary doctrine of the first order. It is all about God's
heart for the nations, both Jews and all the other ethnic groups in
the world - including Anglo-Saxons, African-Americans, Hispanic,
Asian, Somali, Ethiopian, Turkish people, Kosovars, Kazaks, Uzbeks,
Maninke, Sukumu.

Notice how verse 11 reasons. "[Abraham] received the sign of
circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had
while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who
believe without being circumcised [Gentiles, nations], that
righteousness might be credited to them." God's point in justifying
Abraham by faith alone before his being circumcised is to make
clear that Abraham is the spiritual father of all who are justified
by faith, no matter what people group they are from.

This means that you do not have to be a physical Jew or even a
kosher proselyte to be a part of the covenant that God made with
Abraham. What makes you a child of Abraham and a fellow heir of the
promise is not circumcision or any other Jewish custom. It is faith
in the God who justifies the ungodly. That is what united Abraham
to God. And that is what will unite others to God and to him. Paul
says it again in Galatians 3:7, "Therefore, be sure that it is
those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham."

So here is the evangelistic and missionary significance of this.
It was not easy for Judaism to be a missionary religion in Old
Testament times. There were the obstacles of circumcision, the
dietary laws, the cumbersome sacrificial furnishings, the central
tabernacle, and the ceremonial laws for ritual purification. This
was mainly a come-see religion, not a stripped down, missionary,
go-tell religion that fits a lot of different cultures.

But now Paul is making something crystal clear that was not as
clear in the Old Testament. All the nations - all the ethnic groups
- are meant by God to be included in the promises of Abraham. And
the way he is making it clear here (which he does in other ways
elsewhere, 1:16; 2:10, 26-28; 3:22, 29-30; 9:8, 24; 11:17-23) is by
focusing our attention on the fact that Abraham obtained his
covenant relation with God not by means of circumcision or any
other Jewish ritual, but by faith - a faith he had before he was
circumcised.

Therefore, Paul says (verse 11), Abraham is "the father of all
who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be
credited to them." So the message of justification by faith alone
should be at the heart of all our missionary preaching and
teaching. And all our evangelizing. Every kind of person is
included in the gospel - everybody you know -because faith is the
most universally accessible act of the human heart in every people
and tribe and tongue and nation. Faith is not a performance based
on education or personality or culture or ritual or strength or
riches. It is what happens when the heart finds itself turning away
from all those things and depending entirely on the mercy of God in
Christ. Paul is passionate about justification by faith alone
because it is the foundation for the great missionary work of his
life.

Conclusion

In sum then, Paul rivets our attention on justification by faith
alone apart from works for four reasons. First, because it
undermines boasting. Second, because it preserves the blessing of
forgiven sins and imputed righteousness. Third, because it puts
obedience and works in their proper place after justification as
signs and seals. And fourth, because Paul is passionate about
reaching every people group in the world with the gospel and
showing that they can be children of Abraham and heirs of the
promise by faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from Jewish ritual -
or American culture.

So let us embrace this great truth to our souls and be humble
and be blessed and be obedient and be about the great work of
taking the gospel to every people and tongue and tribe and
nation.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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